Process of recovering oil from metal



Jan. 14, 1930. 0. LWMAAG ET 1. 1,743,453

PROCESS- OF RECOVERING OIL FROMMETAL Original Filed-Aug .13,- 1925 2Sheets-Sheet l Jan 14, 19305 0. 5... MAAG ET AL I 1,

' PROCESS OF RECOVERING OIL FROM METAL Original Filed Au .;15, 1925 I 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 5.

37 59 I9 /9 a? /6 as 4 vg- Patented Jan. 14, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE OSCAR L. MAAG CLIFFORD M. MAlRlA TTA, OF CANTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOBSTO THE TIMKEN ROLLER BEARING COMPANY, OF CANTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OFOHIO rnocnss on nnoovnnme OIL mom Maren Original application filedAugust 13, 1925, Serial No.

50,056. xDivided and this application filed April 13,

1927. Serial No. 183,261.

shavings, chips and cuttings resulting from the operation of lathes,automatic screw machines and the like. As is well known, oil isfrequently applied in large quantities to the 'work and to the tools oflathes, automatic screw machines and the like and the large quantitiesof chips, shavings and cuttings resulting from the. use of such machinesare covered with oil and oil is trapped between particles thereof. Ifsuch oil can be removed from the metal, the oil can be used over andover again, thus reducing the expense of operatin the machines. Themetalis used in the manu 'acture of steel, such steel frequently beingmanufactured in electric furnaces. If the oil is not removed fromthemetal pieces before they are placed in an electric furnace, the oil hasa deleterious'efiect, causing the steel to contain excessive amounts ofcarbon. Accordingly, numerous processes and machines have been devisedto remove the oil from such metal pieces. Such machines are. usuallyexpensive and so much oil remains after treatment in such machines thatit is frequently necessary to burn the oil from said chips before theyare suitable for use in an electric furnace in the manufacture of steel.

It is the object of the present inventionto devise a process wherebypractically all of the -oil can be quickly, easily and economicallyremoved from such chips, the chips requiring no further treatment to fitthem for use in the manufacture of steel in electric furnaces.

Theinvention consists principally in subjecting the metal chips tosprays of heated water or steam or both. The invention further consistsin passing the chips, as by'means of a conveyor, beneath a multiplicityof spraying devices that spray the heated water or steam onto the chips.The invention further consists in the process hereinafter described andclaimed. a

like reference characters indicate like views wherever they occur,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred form of apparatus forpracticing our invenion;

Fig.' 2 is a sectional view thereof on the line 22 of Fig. 1 r V Fig. 3is a sectional view thereof on the line 33 of Fig. 1; and l Fig. 4 is adetail view of an oildrain and the float therefor.

A suitable apparatus for practicing the invention. is shown in thedrawings'and comprises a continuous belt or apron conveyor 1 adapted toreceive oily metal pieces 2 atone end and to deliver oil-free pieces 2at the other. At one end of the conveyor is a loading platform 3 fromwhich the chips and shavings may be deposited onto the conveyor by handor by machinery, and at the other or delivery end, the conveyor dropsthe oil-free chips and shavings into a suitable delivery pit 4:.

Mounted above the conveyor is a suitable housing 5 comprising aplurality of hinged sections which may be raised as indicated in dottedlines to permit inspection and repair of the apparatus. In said housingis a multiplicity of pipes 7 adapted to receive hot water or steam orboth andprovided with down wardly ext-ending openings 'whereby the wateror steam may be sprayed onto the oily pieces 2 on the conveyor. Insteadof plain water, some solution adapted to remove the oil may be used.Said conveyor 1 comprises mesh work or other material that is providedwith openings whereby the oily liquid may drop from the conveyor into asuitable trough 8 mounted between the two passes of the conveyor andsupported in any suitable way.

Said trough 8 extends into the endmost compartment 9 of a tank 10 havinga plurality of communicating compartments whereby the liquid passes fromone compartment to the next.

A preferred form of tank 10 is illustrated in the drawings. In thisform, the compartment 9 that receives the oily liquid from the trough 8occupies only part of the width of the tank; and is separated by apartition wall 11 from a sump 12 or pit that receives the oil 13 that isseparated from the oily water, as hereinafter described. The inner endwall 14 of the liquid receiving compartment 9 is] provided with holes 15through which the oily liquid can pass into the second compartment 16,which compartment extends the full width of the tank 10; and whose endwall 17 is'provided with openings 18, near the bottom thereof. Theremainder of the tank is divided into a plurality of compartments 19 bymeans of a longitudinal partition 20 that extends to the top of the tankand. transverse partitions 21, said transverse partitions either 4 passover the top, or else having openings being low enough to permit theoily liquid to therethrough to permit the oily liquid to pass into thenext compartment. In the construction illustrated, the middle partition21 is high and hasopening through the lower portion thereof and thepartitions 21 on either side are low. As shown by the arrows, the

liquid passes over the top of the low partitions and throughv theopening in the high partition.

Extending into said oil sump 12 is a pipe 22 that extends through thesecond compartment 16 and then divides'into branches 23 that extendthrough the other compartments 19, one branch on each side of thelongitudinal partition 20. Opening into said branch pipes in the endmostcompartments 19 are outlet pipes 24 that are secured to ball floatmembers 25 or the like whereby their openings 24 are held near thesurface of the liquid. Thus these outlet pipes receive the oil that hasseparated from the water and floats on'the top thereof. Similar outletpipes 26 and float members 27 may be provided in other compartments, asshown in the drawing. The ,compartment'S) that receives the oily liquidfrom the collecting trough 8 is provided with an overflow pipe 28 thatalso communicates with said pipe 22 that drains into the oil sump 12. Iv

Suitable valves 29 may be provided for shutting oft one or the other ofthe branch pipes23 and means may be providedfor' blocking the openingsinto the compartments 19 on one side or other of the tank, thuspermitting cleaning out of the compartments on one side. For thispurpose, manholes and covers 30 are provided and ladder rungs 31 aresecured to the longitudinal partition in the several compartments.

The loading platform 3 may be provided with a reticulated portion 32that permits oil to drop into a pit 33 that is connected by means of apipe 34 with the oil sump 12. A pump 35 is connected by means of a pipe36 with said oil sump 12; so that oil may be pumped from the sump and toany suitable permanent storage receptacle or purifying or refiningmechanism. 3

Extending through the several compartments (except the receivingcompartment 9) are steam pipes 37 that heat the water in the severalcompartments. The endmost compartments are provided with inlet members38 that connect with a pipe 39 that leads to a pump 40. Said pump 40pumps the water from said endmost compartments and forces it through adelivery pipe 41 that connects with a pipe l2 extending along thehousing. The spring pipes 7 open from said pipe 42. If desired,additional hot water or steam may be added to the water that is pumpedinto the delivery pipe 41 and spray pipes 7, so as to secure the desiredtemperature for the water that is sprayed onto the metal.

The process will be easily understood from the description of theforegoing apparatus. Oily chips 2, scraps or turnings from metal workingmachines are placed on the loading platform 3 and are delivered to theconveyor 1, either automatically or manually, as may be desired. Themovement of the conveyor 1 carries the metal chips beneath the spraypipes 7 and the hot water or steam is sprayed onto them, the water orsteam coming in direct contact with the chips and removing the oiltherefrom. The oily water falls through the conveyor 1 into the trough8, whence it passes to compartment 9 of the tank 10 where the oil andwater are separated by gravity during the passage of the oily liquidthrough the several compartments of the tank. The oil is removed to anoil storage tank and the water heated and pumped out of the tank to beused again in spraying chips.

The above described process advantages. The chipsare subjected to thedirect action of the steam or hot water or both, the steam or waterbeing forcibly sprayed over the chips and carrying away almost all ofthe oil adheringto the chips and trapped in the mass of chips. The chipsdelivered into the chip deliver pit are almost entirely free ofoil. Thust e invention re sults in the reclaiming of almost all of the oil, whichoil may beused over and over again,

and metal chips treated according tothe invention are so nearly freefrom oil asto be suitable for use in an electric furnace in themanufacture of steel. 1 1

Obviously, numerous changes may be made without departing from theinvention and we .do not wish to be limited to the preciseconhas'numerous hot Water and steam, permitting the oily Water to dropfrom the mass of chips, collecting said oily water andseparating the oilfrom the Water. I

- Signed at Canton, Ohio, this 7th day of April, 1927.

OSCAR L. MAAG. CLIFFORD M. MARATTA.

